


Crystal Days are Here Again

by nychus



Series: Growing Up Citadel [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Baby!Ignis, Baby!Noctis, Fluff, Gen, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 21:18:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13132416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nychus/pseuds/nychus
Summary: Ignis spends his first festival season in Lucis and learns about Crystal Day.





	Crystal Days are Here Again

As Ignis went through the Citadel towards Noctis’s chambers, he looked around curiously at all the decorations going up. It was nothing like he’d ever seen before, lots of lights and tinsel and facsimiles of crystals hanging around.

When he entered his friend’s room, he was nearly toppled over by the small child barreling into him with excitement.

“Marguerite says we can decorate!” Noctis cried excitedly.

“Decorate for what?” Ignis asked.

“Crystal Day!” Noctis said but his wide smile fell when he saw Ignis look at him with complete confusion.

“What’s Crystal Day?”

The fact that Ignis had no idea what Noctis was talking about seemed to short-circuit his brain. The prince looked back to his nurse, asking for help with his wide eyes.

“I suppose you’ve never celebrated Crystal Day, have you Ignis?” Marguerite asked.

“No, ma’am. What is it?”

Marguerite guided both boys to the boxes of decorations and started pulling out various things to hand to Noctis until she found a little crystal that she held out for Ignis. The older boy took the crystal and looked at it for a moment before looking back up at Marguerite hoping she would explain.

“We celebrate the light and protection that the Crystal gives us,” Marguerite said. “We decorate our homes and shops with lights and crystals to honor the way it keeps us safe from the daemons outside the wall. What used to be a single day of celebration has turned into a month-long festival of lights and gifts. We hold our friends close and our families closer as we end the year by saying thank you and enter the new year with hope for the same love.”

“Everything’s really pretty and you get presents!” Noctis added, wrapping a silver garland around his neck like a scarf and giggling.

“Presents? Why?” Ignis asked. This festival seemed similar to what he celebrated in Tenebrae, but that was in honor of the Oracle and the blooming of the sylleblossoms. There were parties and dinners and no school for the week while the festivities went on, but no excitement like Noctis was showing and definitely no presents.

“I dunno,” Noctis shrugged.

Marguerite didn’t know the answer either. She set the boys to work pulling out the rest of the decorations and letting them run around the play room putting them up while she went to find a book. When she returned an hour later, the boys were looking proudly at their work. It was as any could expect from a five and six year old: every last bit was used and they reached no higher than Marguerite’s waist.

Upon seeing her holding a book, Ignis went to investigate and was pleased when she handed it over. The nurse had long learned that Ignis’s love for reading and Noctis’s love for him was about the only thing to keep the two sitting still for any period of time. The last time she tried to read to them Noctis grew bored and Ignis ran after him. It was just easier this way.

Ignis settled into an overly large bean bag and waited for Noctis to curl up next to him. With the prince settled, Ignis opened the book and started looking through it. The book itself was well below his reading level, but the artwork was nice and it would get him to the answer of presents quicker than if it were more his pace of reading.

They story behind the presents, it seemed, started more as offerings to the Founder King. 

“He looks like Dad,” Noctis said, pointing at the Founder King. Ignis could certainly see the resemblance.

From where she was sitting, Marguerite said, “I believe the Founder King always bears some resemblance to the current monarch and I think that book was published when your grandfather was still king, and thus he actually looks like King Mors.”

Ignis looked back towards the image of the Founder King and tried to think of the differences between Mors and Regis, but he’d only seen pictures of the former and didn’t really have anything to base it on.

Anyway, back to reading.

The gifts were of food and clothing and other such necessities to keep both the king and the Astrals happy. The Founder King tried to dissuade this practice, saying the gifts would better serve the people, but his citizens were persistent. Eventually, the king grew tired of all these things that he felt needed to be with the people, so the last night of the year he and several of his retinue move quietly through town to regift what he had been given. It was several years before anyone realized it was the king giving back to his people. Soon, though, the gifts stopped going through a middleman and people started gifting each other. Gifts still came to the doors as the old year turned into new but the gifts had become less necessity and more luxury. Eventually the practice turned into celebrating the children and so on the first morning of the new year, every child had a brand new toy left by the Founder King and his retinue.

“Woah,” Noctis said in quiet awe. “My great granddad is the one that gives us gifts? That’s so cool!”

Ignis smiled at his friend, though it faded as he closed the book and set it aside. “Will I get a gift? I’ve never known to thank the crystal.”

“You have to, Iggy! You’re a kid and all kids get gifts! If you don’t, then I’ll tell Dad and he’ll fix it!”

Marguerite laughed at the prince’s indignation. “Ignis, I don’t think you have to worry. Any child within Lucis on the first of the year gets a gift, whether they live here or are just visiting.”

“Really?”

“Mm-hmm,” she hummed with a smile. “Now, why don’t we head to the kitchens for lunch and see what the decorators have been doing all morning, huh?”

“YEAH!” both boys cried as they leapt to their feet. Or, attempted to. They ended in a tangle of limbs and laughter as the bean bag got the better of them. Once upright, Marguerite led them out of the play room and towards the kitchens. It was still early enough that very few things had been added since Ignis first walked through and it would be a couple of days before everything was complete, but it was a lot of fun to watch the process.

Over the next few days, Ignis watched in awe as more and more decorations went up. He loved hearing the stories behind different baubles and was amused at the game he and Noctis played as they both tried to dodge the mistletoe.

On the last night of the year, Ignis was allowed to stay up with Noctis at the big party held in the Citadel. King Regis looked regal as he gave a speech about the crystal and thanking it for all it has done for them. Ignis marveled at the dresses, food, and music of the party but made sure to keep up with the prince to thwart any would be mischief.

He wasn’t aware of falling asleep or being moved from the party, but the next thing he knew was he was waking up at home in his bed with a neatly wrapped gift sitting at the foot of it. Excitedly, Ignis ripped into the paper and found a series of books he had been eyeing: the stories of an adventurer and his friends as they went across the world saving people. Hugging it close, he ran to find his uncle sipping coffee so that he could show him what the Founder King had left. Stupeo just grinned at his happy little nephew.

Noctis had gotten some new blocks, which he couldn’t wait to show Ignis so they could build things up to knock them down. Playtime had to wait until after dinner, which Ignis and Stupeo had been invited to, and it was quite difficult to keep the two giggling boys still long enough to eat. Regis finally gave up after the fifth time of scolding his son, allowing the pair to run off to play. This earned him fond smiles from Stupeo and others that were dining with him.

Ignis would never forget his first Crystal Day and the joys it brought him. He never knew that a sacred celebration could bring so much fun and though he would later learn to enjoy the serenity of the Tenebraen Holy Days, he would always prefer the pure happiness that was Lucian Crystal Days, though none felt as magical as the first.

**Author's Note:**

> The reason the following Crystal Days didn't feel as magical is because soon after this one, Regis learns Noctis is the Chosen King and he can't bring himself to fully celebrate it anymore. Not that anyone really notices, but the magic certainly wanes.


End file.
